well, i must say that i confronted craig earlier this week. it was actually monday, and it has been the talk of the store (sort of) since then.

it pretty much went as planned. he asked me if i had saved some coffee grounds for him.

"why yes, craig, i have a BIG bag of grounds for you in the back."

"why thank you."

"i would like to ask a *personal favor* from you in return, though."

"well...uh... yeah, sure, if i could."

"i would like it if, when you come in, you would pay for your drink first, like all of our other customers."

"uh... okay, i can do that."

"AND i would like it if you would pay for your entire drink every day."

"uhhh... i don't know about that. it was my understanding that the extra shot was given to me as a nicety since i am such a regular customer. they've been giving it to me for ten years."

"well, craig, there are plenty of customers that come in every day, order an extra shot, AND pay for it."

"well you do whatever you need to do, but i'm not going to promise anything... i don't know what your motivation is in doing this---"

"purely ethical ones, craig. it isn't right for you to expect what you don't pay for every day."

at this point he walked out of the store. without his grounds.

i decided that i would write a letter to all the lovely friends at the store that i work with to notify them of our new craig policy, asking that they would support me in this endeavor.

he has come back in every day except today when i've been working, and he ALWAYS complains under his breath about not getting his extra shot, and all of us just say to one another, "DUDE, you drive to starbucks in a PORSCHE. for crying eye, sell the car and buy your extra shot."

thankfully, everyone that i work with, including my manager, has been very supportive with me on this matter. which makes me feel good. rock on.

***************

in other news, i got braces on my lower teeth about a week and a half ago in an effort to straighten my teeth and close the space created by the extraction of tooth #26 three weeks ago.

i've finally learned how to talk normal, for the most part. and you really don't even see them.

my dental hygiene has improved considerably-- i end up brushing upwards of 3-4 times a day.

my teeth are already straightening and closing together.

and i think i've lost about 5 pounds in the past few weeks because i can't really eat everything that i'm accustomed to eating. those things that i CAN eat, it takes an usually long amount of time to eat because right now there is a bite plate behind one of my top front teeth preventing me from closing my molars all the way, which makes it hard to chew some foods into small enough pieces to swallow without choking. all this to say, eating has become a tedious process.

but, if you're trying to lose weight, it's definitely the easy way out.